Usually I wouldn’t reject a drunk woman staggering at me, but in this case I wanted to be far, far away from Isla.

“I can explain-”

“You fucking can’t,” she snapped, staggering and gripping the bed rest for support. “Fuck you Jorg, the first rule is not to touch what I own. How hard was it to obey?”

“I just thought it looked beautiful-”

“So what? You can propose to me? Fuck with your lies, all you had to do was to keep your hands off it…FUCK!” she slammed the bedpost. “I should have hidden it. I was fucking careless. And now I need to kill you.”

“Wait,” I spluttered, her last two words echoing in my ears. “What do you mean kill-”

“That is not a device that should worn by a regular Outlander like you. Fuck, a regular like you shouldn’t even know about it. Empress’s rules. Anyone who knows about the higher system must be killed.”

A higher system? So what unlocked inside me was something special after all. At the very corner of my mind - the part that was still trying to be calm - a small idea flamed into life. But for that I needed to find a way to be alive.

“Listen Isla,” I scuttled back until my back hit the wall. “I’ll take out the ring. I’ll give it to you, and we’ll forget this ever happened. You go back to being a pirate, I go back to being your sweet little love bird.”

For a moment the women seemed to consider it, then her eyes fell upon the ring. “Nothing can help you now. You have already unlocked extra abilities and the level up skill. With it you can rise in ranks. And then people are going to question how a Outlander is rising in ranks.”

More wisdom. More opportunities. Sad I was about to lose it all in a few seconds.

“I go far, far, away-”

“Yes, you will. Go as far as you want in the afterlife,” Isla turned, scuttling to the bedside table to grab her knife. “Fuck you Jorg. I actually liked you-”

I looked at the ring. I could throw it off. But whether I have it or not doesn’t matter, the pirate queen’s blade will still fall upon my neck. So I looked at the ring, and tapped on it.

“Please save me,” I tapped harder. “You are my only chance.”

“Do you know how nice it is to have someone who actually listens?” Isla sheathed the blade. “After riding months with those shitty pirates I have actually someone to tell my adventures to.”

[Artifact Allocation Complete]

I looked at the message that had popped up. I had no choice. I wiggled my fingers at it, and it faded off.

“I actually wanted to be with you every damn time I came here.”

[Break Ability Unlocked]

[Temporal Enhancement]

“No to mention the sex was good too.”

A little sigil the size of the tip of my forefinger appeared on my palm. It didn’t hurt, it tickled.

“All you had to do was- wait, what the fuck are you doing?”

I almost did it by intuition, or just my gut for survival. I raised my hand. I felt something brimming at the tip of my fingertips. And then I had control of Isla. It was like I had an invisible leash on her, and my hand gripped it. I knew all I had to do was to pull the leash.

“Fuck!” Isla gritted her teeth and clutched her head. “You fucker! What did you do?”

“Isla,” I said calmly. I felt like the leash was slipping out of my hand. “Let’s talk-”

“Jorg!” she spat. “I am the queen of the seas! You dare try to attack me? You dare-”

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She lunged. I wanted to widen my hands and receive her bear hug, which is what I usually did, but this time, the circumstances were different.

Kill!

I didn’t know what part of my mind uttered it. Maybe it was me trying to survive, or maybe it was my cruel mind who always wanted to snap back saying I was the Emperor’s son.

But once the thought was uttered I saw Isla’s neck twist in the mid jump. It completely cracked to the left, and the knife flew off her fingers. Her body slumped and she fell down to the ground with a Bonk, her large chest hitting flat on the wooden planks. And then she was still.

She was still for a long time.

Of course she’s still you fucker, the rational part of my mind called. She’s dead. You killed him. You killed the woman. You are a murderer.

That wasn’t quite right. It maybe my first murder but I did it out of self defense.

“Isla?” I called, hoping the neck would straighten and she would stand up again. She didn’t. A drop of blood trickled down her nose and fell to the ground. She was dead. It was a fact.

I stood up staggering myself against the wall. Funnily enough, the first thing I did was to grab my pants. If my mind wasn’t really running wild I would have found the funny side of the situation. The pirate queen Isla - the most dangerous pirate across the Southern Sea, the woman who had hunted the Larsen Shark and the Deep Sea Kraken, dead. Killed by a lad who got a ring.

But I thought of the ramifications. The entire pirate crew will be after me. Heck, this pretty much threw off the entire power scale of the world. I killed one of the largest political powers in the Southern Sea.

Fuck my life.

I couldn’t think of anything. So I did what I always did.

I ran to meet Masha like a child crying for his mama.

*

“So she tried to jump at you to give a hug, buck naked, and then she slipped, fell down, and cracked her neck?” Masha stared at me.

I nodded vigorously.

“One question Jorg.”

“What is it?”

“Just how exactly stupid did you think I am?”

She stared at me. And I stared back.

She was right. It was a dumb lie. A very dumb one. But I knew she would figure that out. I just needed a good way to show the dead corpse of the pirate queen on the floor and ironically, lighten the mood.

I gave a sigh. “I just activated some ability, and when she found out, she attacked me.”

“Activated some ability?” Masha frowned. But she was calm. Way calmer than me. I always loved that about her. The perfect quality of a big sister - very calm while listening to how her little brother fucked up. “Jorg, I want to ask more. But I have other concerns. The queen of the seas is dead in my inn. We need to do something about it.”

I nodded. I knew she wouldn’t lunge and start choking me, but I was more guilty of what would happen to her.

“Masha, wrap the body. When the pirates arrive I’ll admit what I did. I’ll offer myself to their sword-”

“Let me think for once,” Masha squatted on the floor and touched the dried blood stain. “I’m not letting anyone who works under me die when I stand to witness it. Especially, not you. So… ” she traced the finger to the pirate queen’s eyes and gently closed them. “Bring me the butcher’s knife from the kitchen. And make sure none of the girls see it.”

I tried to process what she said. “Butcher’s knife, for what?”

“We can cut her in a few places so it looks like a murder. Then we put her in a body bag and throw it off at the docks of the Waylong Pirates. So Isla’s crew things they did it.”

I tried to process some more. “You want to butcher her?”

“I’m always open for alternatives.”

Sometimes Masha was too calm. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run around the room asking if she was crazy. But even I knew that was the rational choice…except for the butchering. It was a popular secret that the Waylong Pirates were the rival gang of Isla’s crew. When they were docked in town it was all white flags. No one dared to attack the other. But if the Waylong Pirates were to break the truce and kill the queen herself…

“Isla,” I shivered. “This entire town is going to war by tonight if we do that.”

Her beautiful yellow eyes stared back at me. “It’s you or the town Jorg. What do you choose?”

“The town,” I muttered, then went to grab the butcher’s knife.

*

The process took the entire evening. And I didn’t even do it. As soon as I gave it to Masha she told me to stay downstairs, and not send anyone up. When the girls came to talk I lied saying Masha was speaking with the pirate queen and didn’t want to be disturbed. When it was nearing moonlight, Masha called me outside the room and told me to bring her a new dress, a wash cloth and soap. I hurried over and found them, and waited outside a very long hour.

Finally the door creaked, and Masha stepped out in a beautiful stainless white dress, dragging a very large bag behind her.

“I stuffed the bed cloth inside so it soaks the blood,” she said with a smile. Funny how she made the entire thing look like a walk in the street market. “Put this in the hand carriage outside. The street are busy at this time, so there won’t be officers peeking in on what’s inside. Dump this near the edge of the docks. That’s where the Waylong pirates stay at night. After that’s done, come meet me. I’m going to take a bath and I’ll be ready to listen to your story….” she paused, then looked at me. “Unless you want to take a bath with me and finish that job first?”

“No,” I gladly grabbed the bag. It was like carrying five chunks of iron. What’s worse was how it had the woman I used to sleep with. “I need to dump this as soon as possible. Isla said she was sailing tonight, so her crew is going to look for her.”

“She hadn’t told her crew about her visits here,” Maya brushed a strand of hair. “We’re safe from the search.”

I nodded, then started pulling.

“Do I need to send one of my girls with you?”

“No,” I tugged harder. “I killed her, and I should bear the sin of it myself.